Talk:Elma/@comment-27144133-20160915001322
MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE ENTIRE GAME Theory: Elma has some involvement with the “Ghosts” and the “Ghosts’” plan (When referring to Ghosts as “Ghosts”, I’m talking about the xenoforms that control the Ghosts, when I’m using the word without the quotation marks, I’m referring to the Ghosts themselves) In the beginning of Xenoblade Chronicles X , the Earth is destroyed by two opposing alien forces: The Ganglion and the “Ghosts ”. The Ghosts themselves are biological weapons created by some unknown xenoforms. During the attack, the humans sent ships in an attempt to escape the two aliens, the only one to succeed escaping Earth’s destruction was the White Whale . Two years later the White Whale was attacked by the “Ghosts” and crashed onto Mira , according to Lin , “If not for the efforts of a lone hero, we wouldn’t have survived.” That Skell that does not appear anywhere else in the game. According to Vandham , it was the original Ares . In Chapter 4 , it’s revealed that the other alien race that destroyed Earth – the Ganglion – were also on Mira. In the affinity mission We Were Soldiers , it’s revealed that the “lone hero” that Lin mentioned was Elma . In it, Doug says, “Come to think of it, that was a tandem Skell, wasn’t it? Weren’t you with, er– “, before he gets to continue, Doug is cut off by an alert. In Chapter 12 hapter 12 , it is revealed that Elma is a xenoform that came to Earth in hope of saving the human race from the Ganglion and “Ghosts”. The thing is that there are a few issues in Elma’s story that are never filled in. For one, how exactly Elma knew that the Ganglion and “Ghosts” were going to attack Earth? In the epilogue , Lin says that “She’d come with a mission.”, this means that she wasn’t the only one that wanted to insure humanities survival. Considering that “Her alien tech brought us Skells so we could defend ourselves… It gave us light-speed travel, to ensure our escape… and it led to mimeosomes, to facilitate our survival.”, whoever Elma worked for really wanted to make sure Elma succeeded. Elma was unlikely to have invented the Skells herself based on her first heart-to-heart where she says, “I did a little bit of mechanical engineering work years ago, but it hardly qualifies as one of “many” talents.”. Implying that while Elma knows some engineering, she isn’t going to invent anything any time soon. If she brought technology to Earth that was given to her, it would mean that someone wanted humanity alive, which leaves the question as to why since there’s nothing for them to gain by assuring humanity’s survival. The only reason that Elma’s race could have for wanting to preserve the human race based off of any evidence in Xenoblade Chronicles X is that they needed humans alive for something since sending someone with much of their technology wouldn’t just be expensive, it wouldn’t guarantee that humans would be on their side. Unless Elma’s race needed humans alive for something, the entire plan to send Elma to Earth would be all risk and no reward. The only noteworthy thing humans have done throughout the course Xenoblade X is defeat the Ganglion, which was caused by humans and Ganglion being stuck together on Mira. The reason that humans were stuck on Mira is that they were attacked by the Ghosts when they were near Mira’s atmosphere. Based off of Goetia’s conversation with Luxaar at the beginning of Chapter 6 , the Ganglion don’t want to be on Mira. The only hint as to how the Ganglion wound up on Mira comes from Goetia when she says, “It’s one thing to engage the enemy all the way out near that forsaken chunk of rock they call Earth… But then, to be swallowed by that strange light and dumped off here, in this primordial hellhole? Are we cursed?” This means that the Ganglion weren’t following the humans, they were trapped on Mira. Luxaar responds by saying, “We must retrieve it [[Vita] ] if we ever hope to escape the confines of this phenomenon.” When the Ganglion are discovered to have recently arrived on Mira, Vadham says, “either it’s one hell of a coincidence, or they followed us.”, with the knowledge that the Ganglion were on Mira along with the humans, Elma concludes that the Ganglion followed them. However, given that the chance of the planet that the “Ghosts” trapped the Ganglion on being the same planet that the “Ghosts” trapped the humans on being a coincidence is highly unlikely. Elma knows that the Ganglion were not the aliens that attacked the White Whale and trapped the humans on Mira, she was fighting off the Ghosts that were attacking the ship. Considering that she was able to identify a Ganglion machine by sight, she should be able to easily distinguish a Ganglion machine from a Ghost. With the knowledge that the “Ghosts” caused the Ganglion to be trapped on Mira and that they did the same for humans, they had to have somehow set everything up, meaning that they had to have known that humans were to arrive near Mira. Even if the “Ghosts” were to follow the humans for two years, it’s unlikely that the White Whale just happened to get near Mira out of chance, so someone on the inside with influence would have needed to be directing the White Whale towards Mira. Elma was the only xenoform on the White Whale, so she would be the only one that could have been working with them since the beginning. Even during the game’s intro where Elma is seen fighting against the Ghosts, the number of Ghost casualties shown in the battle amounted to two while there were no visible instances of human casualty. Suggesting that the attack was mostly for show. More so, after the White Whale began to crash towards Mira, the Ghosts are no longer visible. Considering that the “Ghosts” have powerful enough weapons to destroy entire planets, they should be more than capable of destroying one ship. The only way the White Whale could have survived that encounter with the “Ghosts” is if the “Ghosts” weren’t supposed to kill the humans. During the battle between the Ganglion and the “Ghosts” at the beginning of the game, when looking at who is doing what in the battle, the Ganglion are targeting the humans while the Ghosts are targeting the Earth. From the “Ghost” side, there is a clip of them flying the Vita and throwing a bomb onto Earth which resulted in a massive purple explosion. On the Ganglion side, they are destroying the Project Exodus arks, as shown when a Seidr destroys one of them. Once again implying that the “Ghosts” want to destroy Earth but intend on preserving humanity. Tying into Elma’s mission. Elma was sent to Earth to start Project Exodus so that the “Ghosts” could use the humans as a means to defeat the Ganglion by confining them and the humans to Mira. After that, Elma was to ensure that the humans survive long enough for the “Ghosts” to use them to defeat the Ganglion. Even the concept art for the Ghosts and Elma’s Original Ares suggests that Elma’s involved with the “Ghosts” considering their similar designs in their concept art. The Ghost for example is the picture on the left, it is dark purple with bright eyes on it. On the right, there is the Original Ares; the Skell that Elma was using when the Ghosts attacked the White Whale and forced it to crash land on Mira. While both designs appeared different in the finished product, the similarities between both the Ghost and Elma’s Skell are rather clear. This is a picture of the Original Ares fighting the same Ghost that was shown in the concept art. The Original Ares got some metal surrounding it and a weapon and neither design has so many eyes on them. Even one of Elma’s signature arts can be foreshadowing her allegiance towards the “Ghosts”. That specific art is a duel gun art called “Ghost Factory ”. It causes decoy and can be obtained on Elma’s last affinity mission; Then and Now . The thing about Elma originally starting Project Exodus for the “Ghosts’” needs is that because Elma has been with the humans for 30 years, she’s developed a loyalty towards the humans, or at least towards her team. Along with that, her default reaction towards hostile races is to attempt to negotiate with them. This is shown in Chapter 3 when she reaches Glennar and in Chapter 9 where she convinces Ga Jiarg to leave the Ganglion. The only exception to this rule was with Goetia during chapter 7 and Lao during chapters 11 and 12. If Elma is working for the “Ghosts”, it means that humanity would pose an actual threat. In Chapter 12, Luxaar gives his explanation for why humans were dangerous, he says, “I was indeed fearful of humanity, of your threat. At the dawn of the cosmos, the Samaarians arrived from another plane. . . And yet here you are. The descendants of Samaar.” When Lao and Luxaar become one in the same, Lao adds, “A long time ago…the Samaarians created new lifeforms to serve them. They created…the Ganglion. The original Ganglion were synthesized…they’re artificial. Which is why they fear humans…the descendants of their creators! . . . Luxaar and these other synthesized lifeforms were implanted with a failsafe…Insurance in case the Samaarians ever lost control of them…the key to that failsafe lives on in the human body…” What Lao is saying is that the Samaarians created a variety of artificial life (similar to the Chimeras that the humans made), including Luxaar and Ryyz. The Ganglion fear humanity because human DNA can destroy them. The reason Elma can’t be a Samaarian is that she refers to Goetia as a “Samaarian witch” in Chapter 7, meaning that both Elma highly dislikes the Samaarians and that since Goetia is a Samaarian and looks nothing like Elma’s true form, Elma can’t be a Samaarian. More evidence that Elma doesn’t like the Samaarians is when she immediately after says, “Enough of your talk…Enough of the pain you’re caused the universe.” Besides the Samaarians, the only group of aliens left are the Ganglion and “Ghosts”. The “Ghosts” are the only ones that Elma hasn’t opposed in any serious fashion. By making Elma a villain, considering her loyalty towards her team by the end of the game, things could get interesting. Despite how loyal Elma currently is to her team, her past and her present aren’t the same thing and having Elma originally work of the “Ghosts” would explain a lot of things about the concept art, the game’s intro, and the game’s ending. Elma is the most stable character in the game, so thrusting her in a situation where she has to second guess herself would be something she has yet to do. If anyone has any thoughts I'd be happy to hear.